Database

Is Neo4j 2.1 The Chosen (Graph) One?

Neo Technology has announced the general availability of the Neo4j 2.1, featuring built-in ETL designed to make it easier to bring data in from relational databases and other data sources.

Neo4j 2.1 sets out to enable users to bring their existing data into Neo4j and use "the power of the graph" to leverage the connections in the data. The new functionality provides methods for mapping tabular data into Neo4j from CSV files, and runs up to 100 times faster than previously existing methods.

"Neo4j 2.1 represents a step forward in lowering the bar to graph database adoption for organizations who have massive amounts of data in their relational databases," said Emil Eifrem, CEO of Neo Technology. "Companies are recognizing the value that comes from reimagining their existing data as a graph. The new built-in ETL capabilities here enable when moving data from an RDBMS into a graph."

The use of graph databases continues to broaden and accelerate. Forrester estimates that over 25 percent of enterprises will be using a graph database by 2017.

The company says that wide adoption of graph databases can be attributed to their value in solving a lot of seemingly intractable technology problems. These span all industries, with uses ranging from social to digital content management, bioinformatics to trading, identity and access management to Internet of Things, and geo routing to recommendations

"The overwhelming majority of data is stuck in relational databases due in large part to historical and technical inertia. In many cases, relational tables are poorly suited to the ideal structure of the data, resulting in poor performance and unintuitive access," said RedMonk analyst Donnie Berkholz. "By lowering the migration barrier from relational to graph stores, the latest Neo4j release targets this mismatch, enabling the market reality to grow closer to what's best-suited for the data."

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